Department of Operations Management (OM/PEØ) Titler

An Institutional Study of how Commercial and Social Forces Effect Management Accounting Change in Air Greenland

Balslev, Lars(Frederiksberg, 2017)

[Flere oplysninger]

[Færre oplysninger]

Resume:

Actors and practices – An institutional study on management accounting change in Air
Greenland
My former CEO was one of the first executives in Greenland to formally implement an
extensive commercial strategy to identify the contradictory forces of social obligations and
commercial strivings. This strategy was aimed at connecting managers, executives, and directors
under a vision that was calibrated commercially and sociopolitically in support of a commercial
airline that was a state-owned enterprise (SOE). In one of my first interviews with my CEO, I
asked him about managing an SOE with a strong societal obligation. He noted that:
“…there is some inherent conflict in having the type of ownership we have, one in
which the commercial owner demands higher profits or they will sell their shares,
and the other two government owners, where one wishes to have the lowest
possible fares and better infrastructure and the other one just wants less trouble.
Well! This is the ongoing inherent conflict of the owner composition we just have
to deal with.”
He emphasized that SAS, the more “commercial oriented” owner and private shareholder,
wanted higher profits and gains, whereas the Government of Greenland, the “social oriented”
owner, wanted their SOE to deliver affordable tickets and better infrastructure at a lower price.
The Danish government was stuck in the middle of these conflicting forces, because they could
see the validity of both the commercial and the social aspects. He emphasized that operating an
organization that followed a social, political, and economic track made it difficult to determine
the development of the organization. He saw that managers who adhered to following these
tracks simultaneously created a wider range of rationalities in terms of socioeconomic output.

Across many construction projects, and especially infrastructure projects, efforts to
mitigate the potential loss of biodiversity and habitat are significant, and at times
controversial. In our paper we do not propose to gauge the success or failure of this
effort; rather we are interested in fleshing out some conceptual approaches via Actor-
Network Theory through which infrastructure projects can start to address a series of
overlooked questions. Some of these questions are firmly located within the realm of
construction project management: are animals considered project risks or
stakeholders; is wildlife always simply a retrospective cost to a project or can it
proactively benefit a project, can we ever manage wildlife, and if so how? These
questions in turn lead us to engage with wider debates found in the margins between
the social and biological sciences on the distinction between Nature and Politics: to
what extent should we seek a place for animals in politics and how can we live with
them ethically. Thus far, very little research has addressed the interplay of humans
and animals within construction projects. Instead those interested in the politics and
ethics of human-animal relations, or Animal Studies, have focussed far more on stable
and contained sites, whether organisations like zoos, farms or laboratories, or other
places like homes and parks. These largely ethnographic studies inevitably perhaps
downplay the unplanned, unexpected and highly politically and ethically charged
collision of hitherto rather separate human and animal geographies. Yet, as we argue
here, it is often along such colliding spaces, where animal geographies are
unexpectedly found at the heart of human projects, that we ask and answer many of
the above questions around our respect and response to both animals, and indeed
other humans. In this paper we will examine such encounters conceptually, with
reference to two infrastructure projects, and discuss their relevance to both
construction project management and broader work on the politics of animals.

Research in modularity design and in production systems in the automotive industry is
increasing, as many Western and Japanese firms are applying this concept. This study
focuses the relationships between modularity in design (MID) and production (MIP).
After analysing 60 papers on MID and MIP in automotive companies, it was observed
that some publications suggest that relationships between MID and MIP can be twoways,
i.e. not only the former affects the latter, but the latter also affects the former.
Conclusively, the relationships between MID and MIP are relevant and future studies
should emphasise how they produce managerial benefits and/or drawbacks.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide groundwork for an emerging theory of supply
chain robustness – which has been conceptualized as a dimension of supply chain resilience –
through reviewing and synthesizing related yet disconnected studies. The paper develops a
formal definition of supply chain robustness to build a framework that captures the dimensions,
antecedents and moderators of the construct as discussed in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply a systematic literature review approach. In
order to reduce researcher bias, they involve a team of academics, librarians and managers.
Findings – The paper (1) provides a formal definition of supply chain robustness, (2) builds a
theoretical framework of supply chain robustness that augments both causal and descriptive
knowledge, (3) shows how findings in this review support practice and (4) reveals
methodological insights on the use of journal rankings in reviews.
Research limitations/implications – At this stage, managers may benefit from seeing these
relationships as clues derived from the literature. The paper is fundamentally a call for
researchers to conduct quantitative testing of such relationships to derive more reliable
understanding and practical applications.
Practical implications – Rather than presenting empirical findings, this paper reveals to managers
that visibility, risk management orientation and reduced network complexity have been the main
predictive antecedents of supply chain robustness (as discussed in the academic literature). This
provides a potentially important signal as to where to invest resources.
Originality/value – The study is the first to develop a formal definition of supply chain
robustness and to establish a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding the
construct.

In this paper we review applications, case studies, models and techniques proposed for the design
and optimization of reverse logistics systems according to the principle of modularity. Based on
these studies we give an overview of scientific literature that describes and discusses cases of
reverse production activities and modularity in practice. We examine high technology industries
and their potential competitiveness implementing reversed supply chain. The main research
question addressed in the paper is: How can modularity guide and determine the development of
complex technology and subsequently contributing to enhancing the efficiency of the reverse supply
chain (RSC)?

This report is based on the survey "Industrial Companies in Denmark – Today and Tomorrow",
section IV: Supply Chain Management - Practices and Performance, question number 4.9 on
performance assessment. To our knowledge, this survey is unique, as we have not been able to find
results from any compatible survey. The International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) does
bring up the question of supply chain management, but unfortunately, we did not have access to the
database. Data from the members of the SCOR-model, in the form of benchmarked performance data,
may exist, but are nonetheless not public. The survey is a cooperative project "Benchmarking Danish
Industries" with CIP/Aalborg University, the Danish Technological University, the Danish
Technological Institute and Copenhagen Business School as consortia partners. The project has been
funded by the Danish Agency for Trade and Industry. The present survey was developed and
conducted in the period of 2001-2003.

Filer i denne post: 1

In this research note the author describes a methodology for doing
literature reviews. The first part of the note describes a method for
designing and performing the study each consisting of five steps.
Following this framework a typology of strategies is proposed.

An open European market for goods and services, including transport services, stimulates trade, global competitiveness and economic growth. At the same time, concerns about domestic job security and the environment have sparked debate. This report should be considered a first modest contribution to a mainly unexplored area in the past. Cabotagestudien consists of a walkthrough of previous research on road freight transport deregulation, a data collection of the movements of international trucks in Scandinavia, method validation and statistical comparison Parts of the data collection presented in this report are based on an innovative app for truck counting that registers vehicle movements with the assistance of 8 000 volunteers. Given the novelty of the methods employed and the lack of statistics, the results must be interpreted by keeping in mind the underlying assumptions of this report.

Filer i denne post: 1

An ANT Study of the Roles of the Price in Decisions to Invest in Child Protection

Schrøder, Ida(Frederiksberg, 2016)

[Flere oplysninger]

[Færre oplysninger]

Resume:

In these terms a social case worker in a Danish local authority explains, why she was reluctant to accept the offer from a supplier of social services. She ended up choosing another supplier, which was judged to better meet the needs of the boy, at a price, which was better aligned with her expectations. The economizing (Miller & Power, 2013) of social work is indeed happening. The overall purpose of this PhD is to investigate how this results in the development of new management accounting practices (Chapman, Cooper, & Miller, 2009). My hope is first of all, that such knowledge will give detailed insights into how it is possible for social work professionals to be both accountable to the needs of the child and the budget of their department. Secondly, I hope this knowledge will make visual some of the management accounting practises that enables the children to get the help, they need and not only those management accounting practises that happen to the detriment of the children and clients (Brodkin, 2011; Lipsky, 2010; Munro, 2004). Doing the PhD. thesis within the field of management accounting research hopefully enables me to do, what Power and Miller (2013, p. 592) asks of us: “...scholars of organizations and management need to view accounting practices as central to their discipline rather than a merely technical and peripheral activity”.
The remaining part of the Project Proposal is structured as follows: First a very brief introduction to the field of public sector social work. The rest falls in two main sections: The first section is a literature review, which aims to narrow down the scope of the study. Secondly the outline of the study is presented.

Filer i denne post: 1

An Organizational Discourse Study of Public Managers’ Struggles with Collaboration across the Daycare Area

Plotnikof, Mie(Frederiksberg, 2015)

[Flere oplysninger]

[Færre oplysninger]

Resume:

This doctoral study explores problematics of managing and organizing collaborative
governance from an organizational discourse perspective. Collaborative governance
is a public management practice developing currently with the aim of engaging
stakeholders to address and co-create potential solutions to complex public problems,
such as policy and service innovation. This is seen as a potential shift between new
public management (NPM) and new public governance (NPG) discourses in the
governance literature. Pursuing collaborative governance in practice is not taken to be
an easy task, as it involves changes from hierarchical organizing towards
interorganizational collaboration in networks and partnerships. The literature
therefore discusses both the potentials and problems, and conceptualizes their issues
in organizational models of design and implementation issues, and new managerial
roles. These issues are approached as managerial challenges and unfolded in terms of
paradoxes, socially dynamic tensions and power relations – especially by one stream
of studies. They stress the need to understand challenges of collaborative governance
practice by approaching the emerging social interactions and power relations;
however, the theorization of communication and discursive aspects to do so is underdeveloped.

Road transport is an important sector, connecting time and space of production and consumption. Its market conditions has changed. The EU single market implementation has increased price pressure due to supply of low cost road freight transport from counties with lower cost structures. Changes in the market also encourage strategic development of some road hauliers into providers of unique services. Such road haulier strategic development contributes to efficiency and effectiveness in basically all business sectors of EU. Little research is available of such strategic and operational management.
In this paper we will explore that knowledge gap and analyze what value proposition(s) and capabilities can transform potential cost disadvantages of acting in a market that includes both high- and low-cost-country actors? And in conceptual terminology, how are capabilities deployed and developed to construct a competitive value proposition?
We will illustrate the strategy-as-practice with two projects, and discuss implications in terms of capabilities needed to create an effective value proposition and hence competitiveness. The theoretical contribution is in theorizing haulier strategic development in which we take into account logistics service supplier strategic management. We also contribute with better understanding of value creation in order to escape commoditization and differentiate services through relationships (customers and/or other hauliers). Practical implications concern hauliers’ strategy creation and to some extent road transport buyers in terms of more informed market knowledge.

Borrowing from complementary theories has become an important part of theorizing
SCM. We build upon principal-agent theory (PAT), transaction cost analysis (TCA),
network theory (NT), and resource-based view (RBV) to provide insights on how to
structure a supply chain and manage it. Through extensive literature review, we identified
76 articles of which a content analysis was performed on their appropriateness for PAT,
TCA, NT and RBV. Our findings suggest that the integrative and multi-layered nature of
SCM sets the conditions for “theorizing SCM” that can take place through various forms:
theory application, new theoretical combinations and sensitivity to managerial practice.

Service modularity is an emerging field of research, and there has been a growing interest
on how it can contribute to service design and operations management. In this study we
develop a framework to assess configurations of the bundling of products and services
through modularization strategies, and how such configurations become the foundations
for mass customization strategies. As a result we identify critical characteristics that are
relevant for both product and services, and suggest a conceptual framework consisting of
twelve dynamic mass customization strategies with paired product and service modularity.
Case examples are used for illustration of different strategies.

Purpose: The effects of supply chain risk management (SCRM) on the performance of a supply chain
remain unexplored. It is assumed that SCRM helps supply chains to cope with vulnerabilities
both proactively by supporting robustness and reactively by supporting agility. Both
dimensions are assumed to have an influence on supply chain performance and on business
performance. This research is aimed at providing clarity by empirically testing these
hypotheses and scrutinizing the findings by the means of case studies.
Design/methodology/approach: The research is empirical. Survey data was collected from 270 manufacturing companies for
hypotheses testing via structural equation modeling. Additionally, qualitative data was
collected to explore the nature of non-hypothesized findings.
Findings: It is found that SCRM is important for agility and robustness of a company. Both agility and
robustness show to be important in improving performance. While agility has a strong
positive effect only on supply chain performance, but not directly on business performance,
robustness has a strong positive effect on both performance dimensions. This important
finding directs the strategic attention from agility-centered supply chains to ones that are both
robust and agile. The case studies provide insights to the fact that robustness can be
considered a basic prerequisite to deal with supplier-side risks, while agility is necessary to
deal with customer-side risks. The amount of agility and robustness needs to fit to the
competitive strategy.
Practical implications: Since volatility has increasingly become a prevalent state of supply chains, companies need
to consider robustness to be of primary importance to withstand everyday risks and
exceptions.
Originality/value: This is the first study to view the relationship between SCRM, agility/robustness, and
performance.

Filer i denne post: 1

A closer look on the role of design choices in framing coordination and motivation

Gevoll, Linn(Frederiksberg, 2015)

[Flere oplysninger]

[Færre oplysninger]

Resume:

The motivation of this study was to explore how the design choices created when
developing Performance Management (hereafter PM), produces proposals of how to
coordinate and motivate operational employees in performing their tasks, and to
which extent they are successful in doing so. PM is often postulated as a management
resource in organizing employee contribution to value creation. Here, it is often
suggested that carefully designed PM promotes organizational value creation, by
facilitating the motivation and coordination of employees’ contribution. However, the
way in which design choices function to suggest how to define the boundaries of what
it means to coordinate and motivate employees in practice is less clear.
I therefore set out to study the different design choices made on three central elements
in a new operational Performance Management System (PMS hereafter), to explore
how these design choices propose ideas of how to coordinate and motivate
employees’ value creation in daily operations. My study follow the design choices
made with regard to leading indicators (e.g. performance measures), performance
targets and feedback over a period of three years (2012-2014). I do so, to investigate
how design choices made on these three elements play a significant role in assigning
specific property to what motivation and coordination of operational employees
entails in practice. For example, the study illustrate how the choice to design leading
indicators as key behavioral indicators (KBIs hereafter) propose that coordination of
employees contribution means to point out what they should do when performing key
activities. Detailed accounts such as this, provides rich insight into how design
choices suggest distinctive, meaning to how to coordinate and/or motivate employees
in their daily operations, which produce the boundaries of desired action.

Filer i denne post: 1

Keywords Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Design, Literature study
Abstract Argues stability is a design objective for supply chain design alongside cost, lead
time and responsiveness. Performs an extensive literature study on supply chain design,
identifies methods, theories and objectives in the existing literature. Describes the concept
external specificity and how it’s used to design supply chains. Using the concept upstream,
archetypes of risk minimal and maximal design are identified. Downstream the concept
describes two viable scenarios, one minimizing the impact, the other minimizing the
probability of (intended) departure of a supply chain partner. Finally, principles for supply
chain design are described and managerial outlined.

Servitization, or adding services to the manufactured
product, has become a strategy for
increasing financial margins, getting closer to
the customer and prolonging product lives. This
is especially applicable to Western hemisphere
companies in their efforts to compete with companies
from low cost countries and emerging
economies.
It is our hope that this booklet can assist managers
to analyze and plan a servitization strategy.
The text is brief and comprehensive to supplement
a workshop, but can also be used separately
as a quick guide on steps to follow for a manager
when considering servitization for the company.
This booklet is produced to serve as a documentation
of a research project together with industry
on how servitization can be a strategy to enhance
the competitiveness of manufacturing firms.

Filer i denne post: 1

“How can we understand the dynamics of procurement management?” An answer to this question has
predominantly been explained by procurement management experiencing dissatisfaction with the
status quo, where the procurement organisation was viewed from other entities in the company as an
insignificant, reactive and an administrative part of the business. The potential, however, for the
procurement organisation to be significant in the company was argued to be vast (Ammer 1989,
Ellram & Carr 1994, Van Weele 2005). In order to change the situation of the procurement
organisation, procurement management was informed that they should in gradual steps develop the
procurement organisation towards more sophistication and significance (Reck & Long 1988)
producing strategies that were aligned with the overall company strategy including the development
of policies, procedures, systems, tools and processes (Cousins 2002, Cousins et al 2008). This process
changed the perspective of the procurement organisation which among other things, allowed the
procurement entity to contribute to the implementation of the concept of supply chain management
(Freeman & Cavinato 1990). Ever since I first got familiar with the practices of procurement and its
management, I have been puzzled by its complexity. At the same time, I have wondered about how
the same space of complexity in the procurement management domain literature has explained the
same practices by reductionism, smoothness and simplicity as just described.

The central focus of this thesis is the identification of theory-consistent economic determinants
of aggregate and sectoral domestic investment in the context of the oil-rich and oil-based
economy of Iran within the theoretical framework of modified neoclassical-accelerator type
investment models. This thesis further attempts to extend this theoretically consistent framework
by incorporating oil-driven financial constraint measures such as specified by cash flow models.
The latter is justified on the basis of the presence of imperfect capital markets in Iran and the
inherent uncertainty associated with the availability of oil-driven finance for investment due to
the unpredictable nature of oil prices. A CVAR method is being employed to determine the
theory-consistent long-run relationships between the variables of interest during 1974-2011.
Motivated by the existing gaps in the investment and natural resource curse literature, the main
objectives of the thesis include investigating: (i) the extent to which the theoretical framework is
able to explain investment in the Iranian context and the underlying reasons for the (expected)
partial applicability of such a framework; (ii) the relation between oil and investment patterns;
and (iii) sectoral shifts during the process of capital accumulation and the role of the state in this
process. Hence, the findings of this thesis contribute to current debates in the literature on the
economics of natural resources and on investment, as well as to the application of the
investment literature in the context of oil-abundant and -dependent economies like Iran.
The empirical results, interestingly, showed that aggregate investment largely corresponds to
factors which lie within the above theoretical framework. Notably, such a framework made it
possible to make inferences and to draw policy implications based on the theoretically motivated
long-run relationships between economic determinants of investment. It further allowed
exploring how well such a framework, in the context of partial-market oil-driven economies like
Iran, was applicable with some modifications that were needed to make the framework more
appropriate for such economies.